5erh\oh. 

• • 

The  Motive  and  the  Object 
OP  Missionary  Work. 


i^ay  26, 


delivered  at  the 


Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Huizinga 

AS  MISSIONARY  TO  INDIA, 

IN 

HOPE  CHURCH,  HOLLAND,  MICH. 

MAY  26,  1896, 


BY 


The  Rev.  JOHN  W.  BEARDSLEE,  D.  D., 

professor  op  biblical  languages  in  the  western 

THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  HOLLAND,  MICHIGAN. 


HOLLAND,  MICH.: 
Ottawa  County  Times  Presses. 


1 


'■^And  hath  made  oj  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  /or  to 
dwell  on  all  the  /ace  of  the  earth  and  hath  determined  the 
times  be/ore  aj)j>ointed,  and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation ; 
that  they  should  seek  the  Lord,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after 
him  and  find  him,  though  he  be  not  /ar  from  every  one  of 
us.” — Acts  17:26,  27. 

The  Bible  is  the  only  text-book  on  Religion 
which  is  broad  enough  in  its  teachings  to  em- 
brace the  whole  human  family.  In  its  doctrine 
of  a federal  headship  in  Adam  it  makes  humanity 
a unit,  not  merely  in  ph}’^sical  descent  from  a 
common  father,  but  in  moral  responsibility  and 
spiritual  capacity.  In  its  doctrine  of  redemp- 
tion from  sin  it  knows  nothing  of  race  or  culture 
but  provides  one  salvation  for  Jew  and  Gentile, 
for  the  bond-slave  as  well  as  for  his  master.  In 
its  doctrine  of  a future  life  it  provides  one 


i 


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heaven  into  which  it  gathers  all  who  are  made 
heirs  of  eternal  life  through  faith  in  the  One 
Mediator. 

This  peculiarity  of  Bible  teaching  gives  in- 
spiration to  the  great  Missionary  movements 
which  engage  the  Christian  world.  Its  teach- 
ings are  everywhere  permeated  with  the  thought 
that  the  human  race  is  a unit,  a brotherhood. 
What  one  man  needs,  all  men  need.  What  is 
good  for  one  is  good  for  all. 

An  old  Latin  poet  once  said,  “I  am  a man 
and  nothing  ^hat  relates  to  man  can  be  of  un- 
concern to  me.”  Much  more  can  the  Christian 
man,  rejoicing  in  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel,  as 
he  looks  at  the  masses  of  humanity  toiling  and 
groaning  under  the  bondage  of  sin  say,  ‘‘I  am  a 
Christian  and  I can  never  be  satisfied  till  ever)- 
human  being  shares  with  me  the  blessings  of  the 
Gospel.”  The  church  can  have  no  nobler  incen- 
tive to  evangelize  the  world  than  is  thus  sug- 
gested. In  carrying  the  Gospel  to  men  we  are 
but  giving  to  our  brethren  what  has  been  the 


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greatest  blessing  to  ourselves.  This  gives  force 
to  the  appeal  of  Paul,  the  first  and  chiefest  of 
Christian  Missionaries,  as  he  stands  on  Mars’ 
Hill  before  that  refined  but  spiritually  ignorant 
Athenian  audience.  With  his  own  life  enriched 
by  the  spiritual  teachings  of  the  Gospel,  there 
sprang  up  an  irresistable  desire  to  tell  every 
brother  man  about  God  and  about  redemption 
through  Christ  and  about  the  heavenly  inherit- 
ance. As  they  were  of  one  blood  with  himself, 
so  if  they  could  know  God  and  Christ  as  he 
knew  them,  their  hearts  would  exult  as  his  did. 
What  had  been  so  great  a blessing  to  him  would 
be  just  as  much  of  a blessing  to  them. 

The  special  service  of  this  evening,  when  we 
ordain  this  young  man  as  a preacher  among  a far 
away  heathen  people  will  naturally  lead  us  to  en- 
quire in  the  light  of  our  text  what  is  the  motive 
and  what  the  object  underlying  this  great  Mis- 
sionary work  which  stirs  the  Christian  Church? 
I.  The  Motive. 

The  motive  is  expressed  by  Paul  when  he 


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says,  “God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of 
men.’’  (The  unity  of  the  race  is  an  irresistable 
argument  for  preaching  the  Gospel  to  all  men. 

The  fact  of  such  a unity  is  everywhere  as- 
serted in  the  Scriptures,  and  is  confirmed  by  the 
most  rigid  scientific  investigations.  Science  and 
the  Bible  agree  as  to  the  common  origin  of  men. 
When  we  open  our  Bible  and  read  the  story  of 
man’s  creation  we  are  told  how  little  children 
were  born  into  that  first  home,  the  first  begin- 
nings of  that  marvelous  multitude  which  now 
fills  the  earth.  That  first  family  with  its  happy 
home  life,  where  the  air  first  caught  the  sound 
of  happy  children’s  voices,  and  the  earth  was 
first  marked  by  happy  children’s  footsteps, 
where  the  first  mother  clasped  her  first  born  to 
her  bosom  and  felt  the  first  rapture  of  mother- 
hood, from  whose  surroundings  men  first  went 
forth  with  the  inalienable  bands  of  brotherhood 
upon  them,  stands  forever  as  a proof  of  unity 
among  men.  As  we  may  stand  at  the  mouth  of 
some  noble  river,  bearing  on  its  bosom  the  com- 


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merce  of  the  world,  and  trace  its  course  through 
prosperous  valleys  and  between  high  mountains 
till  we  come  at  length  to  the  spring  from  which 
it  flows,  so  we  may  stand  to-day  and  look  at  the 
millions  of  human  beings  from  Africa  and  Asia 
and  Europe  and  America  and  the  Islands  of  the 
sea,  and  trace  their  history  back  from  one  gen- 
eration to  another  till  we  come  to  that  first  cra- 
dle where  the  first  infant  lay  sleeping  in  the 
morning  of  the  world.  Says  one  of  the 
profoundest  of  the  students  of  our  generation, 
who  has  studied  man  in  the  light  of  his  own  or- 
ganism and  of  his  surroundings,  “All  men  form 
but  one  species,”  which  is  but  the  Bible  way  of 
saying  “God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations 
of  men.”  Another  great  scholar,  after  making 
the  different  languages  of  men  the  study  of  his 
life,  says  “We  have  examined  all  possible  forms 
which  language  can  assume  and  we  now  ask, 
Can  we  reconcile  with  these  the  admission  of 
one  common  origin  of  the  human  speech?”  And 
his  answer  is,  ‘ ‘Most  unhestatingly  we  say,  Yes.  ’ ’ 


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The  same  impression  of  unity  is  formed  when 
we  look  at  the  prominent  characteristics  of  men. 
Take  the  stunted  figure  of  a man  from  the  north- 
ern borders  of  Greenland  and  place  him  beside 
the  most  perfect  specimen  of  manhood  found 
among  the  celebrated  Life  Guards  of  the  Queen 
of  Kngland  and  you  are  impressed  not  so  much 
with  the  difference  in  their  physical  develop- 
ment, as  with  their  essential  similarity. 

Appeal  to  their  intellect  and  you  at  once  dis- 
cover that  while  one  may  be  more  alert  of 
thought  and  sweep  a wider  field,  they  are  alike 
in  their  capacity  to  think.  Look  at  their  moral 
nature,  their  conception  of  truth  and  honor  and 
patriotism  and  while  one  may  have  ideas  so  clear 
and  powerful  as  to  regulate  his  life,  and  the 
other  may  have  but  a shadowy  outline  which  has 
little  power  to  control  his  action,  yet  the  essen- 
tial thing,  the  power  to  think  and  reason  is 
there,  born  with  every  human  life,  never  to  be 
entirely  blotted  out  by  any  excess  or  superstition. 

Above  all  look  at  the  spiritual  faculty,  the 


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power  of  conscience,  the  approval  of  what  is 
good,  the  condemnation  of  what  is  evil,  which  is 
found  only  in  man,  but  in  man  is  universal.  Go 
to  the  most  abandoned  island  of  the  ocean,  where 
life  seems  hardly  worth  the  living,  and  you  find 
conscience  appealing  and  good  charming  and  evil 
repulsive  to  men.  The  idolater  in  Africa  and 
the  speculative  philosopher  in  India  seek  in  their 
way  to  secure  good  and  avert  evil,  just  as  do  the 
thoughtful  men  and  women  in  Kurope  and 
America. 

So  perfectly  do  the  facts  of  observation  and 
the  results  of  scientific  research  confirm  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible.  There  is  but  one  blood 
flowing  through  the  veins  of  all  the  human  race. 

, Wherever  a human  being  is  found,  in  heathen  or 
civilized  lands,  there  you  find  a brother  whose 
welfare  you  are  under  obligation  to  promote.  If 
there  is  a neglected  element  anywhere  in  this 
great  family,  all  the  world  suffers.  If  you  do 
not  do  all  you  can  to  lift  up  your  fellows  and 
help  them  to  know  about  God  and  Christ  you 
fail  in  your  duty  to  your  brethren. 


10 


We  recognize  this  claim  of  brotherhood  when 
we  think  of  the  moral  degradation  which  char- 
acterizes our  modern  city  life.  We  try  to  im- 
prove their  sanitary  conditions,  we  build  for 
them  hospitals  and  churches,  noble  Christian 
men  and  women  live  among  them  that  by  per- 
sonal contact  and  influence  they  may  win  them 
to  a better  life,  we  exhaust  every  resource  to  en- 
able them  to  see  that  in  the  knowledge  and  love 
of  God  and  in  the  tender  compassion  and  infinite 
sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  power  which 
can  effectually  transform  their  lives.  But  we 
need  to  remember  that  the  same  law  of  brotherly 
obligation  binds  us  to  those  who  are  far  away  as 
well  as  to  those  who  are  near.  The  limit  of  duty 
is  the  limit  of  brotherhood  and  the  limit  of» 
brotherhood  is  the  human  race.  A man  living 
without  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  Christ  in 
the  center  of  Africa  or  in  the  heart  of  China  or 
on  one  of  the  coral  reefs  of  the  Pacific  is  a stand- 
ing danger  to  the  human  race,  he  has  claims  of 
sympathy  and  fellowship  and  love  which  appeal 


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to  every  Christian  heart  and  bid  us  do  what  we 
can  that  he  may  live  as  a brother  man  among  his 
fellows  and  as  a Son  of  God  in  the  family  of  the 
redeemed.  We  do  not  do  our  duty  as  Christians 
till  we  do  all  we  can  to  win  every  such  man  to 
Christ.  We  must  go  even  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth  if  there  is  one  there  whom  we  may  help  to 
a right  understanding  of  his  duty,  and  to  the  joy 
which  fills  the  heart  when  we  can  rest  in  the 
assurance  of  God’s  approval  and  love. 

Here  then  is  the  motive  suggested  by  our 
text  as  an  inspiration  to  this  great  Missionary 
effort.  There  is  a bond  of  brotherhood  which 
binds  us  to  humanity  and  bids  us  do  what  we  can 
for  all  who  are  in  distress  and  sin.  Our  Savior 
4aas  joined  this  obligation  of  love  and  help  for  all 
men  to  that  of  personal  loyalty  to  God,  and  pre- 
sents them  as  duties  kindred  and  inseparable 
when  he  says  “Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thy  heart  and  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self.’’ 


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II.  The  Object. 

But  we  look  in  another  direction  and  ask, 
what  ought  we  to  do  for  our  brethren  who  are 
in  such  distress?  What  will  best  show  our  true 
brotherly  regard  and  at  the  same  time  be  of  the 
utmost  benefit  to  them? 

Paul  tells  us  in  our  text  when  he  says,  “That 
they  should  seek  the  Lord  if  haply  they  might 
feel  after  him  and  find  him,  though  he  be  not 
far  from  every  one  of  us.  ’ ’ In  other  words  we 
must  help  him  to  find  God.  The  figurative  lan- 
guage of  Paul  is  very  suggestive.  He  puts  be- 
fore us  a man  surrounded  by  thick  darkness 
groping  after  some  object  by  which  he  may  find 
his  way  into  the  light.  Our  interest  in  the  fig- 
ure is  greatly  increased  when  we  -know  that  the* 
darkness  surrounding  the  man  is  spiritual  and 
that  the  object  he  is  groping  after  is  God.  The 
man  is  trying  to  find  God,  but  on  account  of  the 
darkness  caused  by  sin,  he  cannot  find  him  and 
so  is  dying,  dying  a spiritual  death.  What 
Christian  can  be  insensible  to  such  an  appeal. 


13 


Here  is  a brother  man  trying  to  find  the  light, 
the  light  of  God’s  love  as  seen  in  the  forgiveness 
of  sin  through  Jesus  Christ,  but  he  does  not 
know  where  to  find  it.  Blinded  by  his  sin,  mad- 
dened by  the  curse  which  clings  to  him,  baffled 
in  every  effort  to  escape,  he  appeals  to  his  idols, 
he  seeks  relief  in  hopeless  fatalism,  he  plunges 
into  some  deeper  sin,  he  bewails  the  very  day  of 
his  birth.  If  he  could  only  know  the  truth  about 
God,  if  he  could  hear  that  sweet  story  of  re- 
deeming love  in  which  the  Son  of  God  enters  our 
darkness  that  he  may  illuminate  our  souls  with 
the  true  light  of  God,  his  distress  would  come  to 
an  end,  he  would  rest  in  the  peace  of  God  which 
nothing  can  ever  disturb. 

To  help  men  find  God,  that  God  so  near  to 
every  one  of  us,  yet  whom  we  cannot  find  until 
we  have  the  Gospel,  that  is  the  object  which 
sends  Christian  men  and  women  all  over  the 
earth.  If  the  ignorant  idolators  of  Africa  can 
find  God  they  will  soon  give  up  their  idolatry. 
If  the  speculative  philosophers  of  India  can  find 


14 


God,  they  will  soon  throw  away  their  vain  spec- 
ulations. If  the  stagnant  millions  of  China  can 
find  God  they  will  soon  tear  down  the  walls  of 
separation  they  have  built  and  with  open  arms 
and  loving  hearts  join  their  brethren  in  that 
grand  march  which  brings  them  to  the  throne  of 
God  and  of  the  Lamb,  where  all  the  family  of 
God  finds  its  everlasting  joy. 

Such  an  object  towers  grandly  above  every 
other  to  which  a person  can  dedicate  himself. 
How  noble  it  is  and  how  worthy  we  learn  when 
we  listen  to  Christ,  as  in  his  great  intercessory 
prayer  he  says,  “This  is  life  eternal  that  they 
might  know  thee,  the  only  true  God  and  Jesus 
Christ  whom  thou  hast  sent.”  He  that  helps  a 
man  to  find  God  brings  him  into' possession  of 
eternal  life,  that  life  which  forms  the  bliss  of 
those  who  cast  their  crowns  before  the  throne  of 
God.  To  give  such  help  to  men  we  must  carry 
the  Gospel  to  them,  for  by  that  alone  can  they 
ever  hope  to  find  God.  If  we  would  scatter  the 
darkness  which  prevents  men  from  finding  God 


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we  must  give  them  the  Gospel,  we  must  exalt 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  who  is  the  true  light 
which  is  able  to  lighten  every  man  which  com- 
eth  into  the  world. 

This  then  is  in  brief  the  one  object  of  all 
Missionary  effort.  We  would  help  men  to  find 
God.  What  the  Bible  means  by  finding  God  I 
will  not  stop  to  discuss.  It  is  a knowledge  of 
God  clearer  than  that  taught  by  the  study  of  the 
wonders  of  nature  and  science,  more  complete 
than  we  gain  when  we  examine  the  human  intel- 
lect or  the  human  conscience,  it  is  the  knowledge 
of  God  which  comes  through  a right  understand- 
ing of  his  salvation  accomplished  when  his  well- 
beloved  Son  dies  on  the  cross  to  redeem  men 
from  sin,  as  revealed  to  us  in  the  Scriptures. 
That  is  the  knowledge  of  God  which  all  men 
need.  That  is  the  knowledge  of  God  which  re- 
news the  heart.  That  is  the  knowledge  of  God 
which  transforms  the  life. 

My  dear  brother,  to  be  a Missionary  among 
those  who  have  never  truly  known  God,  has 


16 


seemed  to  me  to  be  the  noblest  mission  upon 
which  a man  can  enter.  God  did  not  give  me 
that  work  to  do  for  him  but  I rejoice  to-night 
that  he  has  permitted  me  to  be  one  of  his  agen- 
cies by  which  you  have  been  trained  for  such  an 
exalted  service.  As  one  after  another  goes  from 
our  Seminary,  I feel  that  God  is  honoring  me 
in  those  who  go  into  the  darkness  to  help  their 
fellow  men  find  God.  Through  you  I am  now 
to  preach  the  Gospel  in  India,  as  through  our 
brother  Pieters  I am  preaching  it  in  Japan  and 
through  many  more  am  preaching  it  among  the 
scattered  families  on  our  great  Western  prairies 
and  in  the  larger  churches  of  our  older  settle- 
ments. Could  I send  ten  thousand  such  young 
men,  I would  say  to  every  one  of  them,  with  all 
the  earnestness  of  a life-growing  conviction. 
Remember  every  man  you  meet  is  your  brother 
and  your  great  mission  is  to  help  men  find  God. 
Wherever  you  go  tell  them  about  God,  tell  them 
about  the  common  salvation  centering  in  his 
only  begotten  Son,  tell  them  about  the  heaven 


17 


whose  door  opens  wide  to  every  believer.  How- 
ever repulsive  they  may  be,  however  dwarfed  by 
sin,  do  your  best  to  bring  them  where  the  Sun 
of  Righteousness  can  shine  upon  them  and  they 
will  begin  to  shine  with  a glory  born  of  God. 

If  you  look  up  to  the  clouds  at  sunset  you  will 
find  a thousand  different  shapes  and  colors. 
Some  are  large  and  beautiful,  some  small  and 
ill-shaped.  Some  are  all  aflame  with  crimson 
and  gold  and  are  piled  up  like  mountains  of 
glory,  others  lie  black  and  sullen  against  the 
sky.  But  5’^ou  know  they  are  all  composed  of  one 
element  and  owe  their  varying  hues  to  their  dif- 
ferent relation  to  the  same  sunlight.  The  dark- 
est, ugliest  cloud  which  hangs  in  the  sky  is  com- 
posed of  water  and  is  colored  by  the  sunbeams 
which  fall  upon  it,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the 
most  brilliant  gem  which  adorns  the  heavens. 

It  is  just  the  same  with  men.  Some  are  large 
and  beautiful  and  generous  in  their  nature,  be- 
cause glorified  by  the  brightness  of  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  which  shines  upon  them;  others 


18 


are  dark  with  crime  and  lust  and  spiritual  deg- 
radation^ because  no  such  brightness  illuminates 
them.  But  they  are  all  men,  of  one  blood,  of  one 
capacity,  having  one  nature.  The  wonderful 
difference  between  the  enlightened  Christian  and 
the  degraded  heathen  arises  from  their  different 
relation  to  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  His  rays 
can  make  the  darkness  light,  can  exalt  the  most 
degraded  to  a glorified  Son  of  God  fit  to  reign 
with  Christ  in  heaven.  It  is  ours  to  bring  them 
to  God  and  thus  to  secure  for  them  a part  in  his 
great  salvation. 


/ 


I 


( 


